All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

While we're talking about the Kansas City area, do any of you have a recommendation for an agent in Grain Valley?

We have a foreclosure there that's set to go to trustee auction in early April. We have a BPO from about 6 months ago but I'd like to know updated comps.

It doesn't matter if you do all the due diligence in the world, or if you get them cheap, if you don't know what the exit strategies are.

My recommendation is: buy a NPN with equity, send the RESPA letter, contact a local attorney and start the foreclosure. Then you'll be able to learn the process without a lot of risk because a professional is doing all the work and you have equity to back you up.

I don't think there is anything wrong with you buying a NPN even if you don't know everything, but why are you so attached to this one deal?

It sounds like you don't have a clear grasp on the exit strategies. That should be your first assignment, read about how people make money with 2nds.

Then, instead of fooling around with those 5 notes, get a note with a lot of equity that you can learn with. With a good amount of equity you are covered even if you can't reason with the borrower and have to foreclose. IF you still enjoy it then you can move into more difficult notes.

Actually, not everyone throws postcards away. Postcards are a great way to drum up business fast, same as cold calling or door knocking etc.

The biggest issue is money. Unless you're starting part time and have a good job to back you up, it's difficult spending money month after month on it. Sure, you get leads and listings but those don't make any money until they're sold and some markets are much more rewarding than others.

I would by far rank direct mail as THE BEST source of leads because it is almost infinitely scalable. The downside is that you need to start with a large bankroll to get started and do it monthly.

Are you talking about SFRs or multi units?

The issue with SFRs is that the best buyers are owner occupants, not investors, so they want to see the house.

Overall it really depends on the relationship the owner has with tenants. Some tenants purposefully sabotage sales and make showing conditions extremely difficult (if not impossible).

If you're talking about multi units then that's a completely different story.

Ask them what marketing they do. People don't realize good agents spend/waste a lot of money advertising their house and only recoup that money when house sells. Your 6% sure feels like a lot of money but at the end of the day only a fraction of that comes home as net income.

It depends what your definition of "very lucrative" is. Think about what's required to make a million as a real estate agent.

I don't think it's that lucrative in itself but it's a great gateway to bigger RE investment projects, networking, getting insider information etc. Agents talk a lot even when they're not supposed to, it's just human nature. For example people will tell you about price reductions before they hit the market, they might tell you who's motivated to sell etc.

So anyway, those are the biggest benefits to being investor/agent as opposed to one or the other. I'm sure most will agree with this analysis.

Make sure you shop the prices. YL seems like a decent company but their prices for postcards, on lists under a 1000, isn't super competitive. They also add that handling fee which is misleading.

Aside from the "sell the dream" marketing aspect, the biggest issue with gurus is that 99% of the time they sell you on shortcuts and apples to oranges comparisons.

Those shortcuts are great to complement someone who's already experienced and can implement them well, but amateurish and gimmicky to the beginner.

So yeah.. you will have learned something valuable, but 99% of the audience will never make money with it because they don't have the foundation (education, financial resources, network etc) to actually implement it properly.

Personally I would always learn by trial-and-error rather than by dumping $50,000 into a course. That's just my personal take on the topic of gurus.

Do you guys get most of these properties from MLS or off-market? Pretty impressive.

I was representing a buyer on a $50k foreclosure recently and there were 4 backup offers. The condition was similar to these. And this isn't even a hot market for rentals.